Frequency: (183)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
French: 1. habitational name from Ravenel in Oise. 2. metonymic occupational name for a grower or seller of horseradish, from a diminutive of Old French ravene ‘horseradish’ (Latin raphanus). This name is also established in Switzerland, and may have been brought to the U.S. from there.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
